School Time Books

This book was very hard to find. At one time the publisher said it was out of print. However, good old Amazon came through one more time. I now have a very happy 7 year old grandson. Thanks again Amazon.Mummies in the Morning (Magic Tree House, No. 3)

If you are interested in fantasy fiction books like this one, read this review. At the beginning of the story, Jack and Annie go to the pyramids of Egypt. In the middle of the story they find an Egyptian ghost from the past. She is trying to look for four egyption symbols. To find out what happens to Jack and Annie, read this book. I gave it 4 stars because of it's mysterious ending.

Mummies in the Morning, by Mary Pope Osborne
If you're interested in fantasy fiction books like this one then this is the book for you. At the begining of the story Jack and Annie go into the treehouse and wish to go the pyramids of egypt. In the middle of the story they find a egyption ghost from the past. she is trying to lookk for four egyption symbols. To find out what happends to Jack and Annie, read this book. I gave it five stars because of its mysterious ending.
By Matthew Broome

The purpose of these little books
Is to encourage reading
And judging from the ones I've seen
They seem to be succeeding

A tree house filled with many books
That's like a time machine
To travel to another place
Just wish, and choose a scene

This third book's set upon the Nile
Inside a royal tomb
Two children help a Queen to find
Her book with spells of doom

Hieroglyphs and secret doors
A mummy's face up close
If you hate rotting bandages
You might think this one's gross

Through the eyes of these young kids
The reader will discover
Learning can be lots of fun
Once you open that cover




Amanda Richards, April 7, 2007

I can't believe that no one has commented on the subject matter of this book being highly inappropriate for young children, and entirely unsuitable for young Christian readers. I am not one to shun children's fantasy books, and we've enjoyed the other Tree House books, but this one is not for a five year old. Jack and Annie help a ghost queen find the "Book of the Dead," containing magic spells that will help her pass through the underworld (a place of horrors with lakes of fire, monsters and demons). The ghost queen has been roaming around for a thousand years trying to find this book. This nonsense, along with detailed descriptions of rotting mummies, make this book one to skip in the series.

I was very surprised with some reviews that appeared to be by adults. This is a book for children and teens, and adults who enjoy light-hearted children's stories; it is not for adult reading groups! It was so enjoyable we couldn't put it down, and read it in 7 1/2 hours. We enjoyed it so much more than Tom's Midnight Garden. We are looking forward to reading more books by this author.

We homeschool, and this book helped recreate the civil war in a more personal manner. But it is not a sad book. It also isn't all about the civil war - in fact, that is only a small portion of the book. It is a slice of life, from two different time periods - 1866 and, since the book was written 1981, the second time period would probably be the 1970's. The ending is neither disappointing nor sad. Enjoy!

Janet Lunn has won The Mark of Canadian Best Seller Award, and the CLA Children's Book of the Year for the Root Cellar.

Rose, who is 12 years old, has no mom or dad. Her grandmother who took care of her dies of a heart attack. Soon after her grandmother's death, she moves into her cousins' house where she discovers a secret root cellar. This cellar takes Rose back to the year 1862 where she meets Susan and Will, her new friends. Rose finds out that Will has joined the Civil war with his cousin Steve. During the war, Rose and Susan get worried because Will has stopped sending letters. Thinking that he is hurt, Susan and Rose go on a dangerous journey to find him in New York. Their adventures are filled with passion, companionship, struggle, many hardships, and surprises.

Reading The Root Cellar was exciting, with many interesting cliff hangers, and character struggles. You never know what will happen in the next chapter. Each new chapter brings a brand new twist. However, Janet Lunn's writing is sort of off topic at times. Some times a chapter will give you something that you think is clue. But as you read on, you get to realize it is a completely pointless chapter. This is the reason why I mainly didn't like this book. But I would suggest this book to people who like historical fiction because I learned about the Civil War.

The Root Cellar is a book by Janet Lunn, an award winning author. Janet Lunn has really unique ideas, and I really like the fact that she is Canadian and she incorporates some facts about her home in the book. She places the setting in Ontario, which is where she lives. In an interview, she tells the readers that her house is what inspired her to write the Root Cellar. In the novel, Rose, the main character, moves to her aunt and uncle's house when her grandmother dies. When Rose finds a root cellar, she goes in and when she comes back out, she finds out that she has traveled back to the time of the Civil War. Rose finds out from Susan, her friend from the 1860's, that her other friend, Will, has joined the war. When the war ends and Will still doesn't return home, Susan and Rose set out on a long and challenging journey to find him.
Janet Lunn's style of writing is distinct because she likes to give clues to make the reader predict what is going to happen next. This was fun to do because there were so many possibilities, but in the end, those clues didn't turn out to be very important. If Janet Lunn and made some sort of connection with the clues she gave the reader to the book, the book would have been much more fluent. Besides the fact that Janet Lunn gives a lot of random clues, she is a really good author because when she wants to describe something, she makes it very detailed so you can picture what she is trying to describe in your head.
Overall, the Root Cellar is an average book because even thought she stretched out the beginning by adding too many clues and unnecessary events, I like her descriptive style of writing and I love her ideas, so yes, I would recommend this book to those who don't mind a slower beginning, but they love an intense and well written ending.

Once again, Janet Lunn has written another award winning novel: The Root Cellar. This CLA children's book of the year circles around the similar themes Janet has written in the past --------- belonging. This book is also inspired by the old farmhouse she has lived in in Ontario. The Root cellar is abut a girl named Rose that moves in to live with her Aunt Nan and Uncle Bob when her grandmother dies. Later on, she travels in a time traveling root cellar back to the time of the Civil War. Soon, Rose finds out from her friend from the 1860's (civil war), Susan, that Will, her other friend has joined the war. When the war ends and Will doesn't return home, Susan and Rose set off to a hard and tough journey to find him.

To tell the truth, I found this award winning book fairly disappointing. This book, however, is quite unique for having an idea of time traveling in a root cellar, but having to find someone who's gone to war is just boring and common. Also, this story was quite confusing at times, like when Susan completely believed that Rose was from the future without questioning about it. I thought The Root Cellar was boring because there weren't many exciting parts after the first little section of the novel. In the beginning, the author put many clues and hints that catch your attention to keep on reading the novel, but unfortunately, these clues and hints don't lead to anything, and this continued throughout the novel. An example would be how Sam explained that he saw silhouettes in the Henry's house. For readers who prefer historical novels, The Root Cellar is not recommended because it is rather an adventurous story. This is because the story line is more focused on the journey of finding Will rather than what Will had gone through at war. Overall, The Root Cellar is a worthy read even though it was boring because the author used different techniques to catch your attention, making the novel unique and very different from other stories.

The novel, The Root Cellar, was written by Janet Lunn, a famous, well respected author. It is a wonderful, timeless novel that has been popular for two decades,winning the CLA Children's Book of the Year Award. It was shocking when a reporter visited Janet's house, finding it quite similar as the Henry's house, as described in novel. Janet confessed that she had gotten the idea for her novel from her new house, only that the root cellar was long gone.

The story takes place in Canada, like where Janet lived, but the characters end up going to United States for reasons related to the American Civil war. Rose was originally from the present time, but when she explores her new house, she finds a magical root cellar. She walked through the root cellar, and into the time of the American Civil War and meets two new friends, one of which is going to war. Months after the war ended, their friend still did not come home. Rose and her other friend set off on a tough, life-threatening journey to find him.

I think that Janet Lunn is a very descriptive author, sometimes too detailed. Although the strategy of being descriptive gives the readers a motion picture in their heads while they read it, sometimes it makes the novel to o long and boring. Additionally, Janet also added events that weren't needed because they led to nothing and that disappoints the reader. She could improve her novels by beings descriptive only in the introductory paragraph of every different scene. This book would please many readers that enjoy fast-paced, adventure novels. As a result, Janet Lunn is an excellent, well-experienced author of many books, including the Root Cellar, but she could still improve her novels from almost perfect, to perfect.

Scholinski delves into the feelings and history of one who's felt completely different in regard to her own gender. It's not really about "confusion" on the part of the character, as she appears fairly secure in her gender identity. It's those around her who are not so accepting. Family problems, sexual abuse, and drugs and alcohol also lead her to develop and act out behaviors that push others away.

When she is admitted into the mental health system as a young teen, she learns that there are manipulations and a merit/demerit system ruled by the powers that be. She learns who her enemies are, and forges fierce friendships that are tested and torn. Fellow "patients" accept her more than her own family.

The reader observes her character grow with each new discovery--whether a genuine spark of realization about herself, or a reluctant compromise on the part of a desperate soul willing to do nearly anything to escape her hell.

I found this book on the "gay and lesbian" shelf of a mainstream bookstore. It's refreshing to read such a memoir, and I highly recommend it to anyone in the LGBT community (and friends and family) who struggles with gender identity, or just feeling so darn different.

I enjoyed this book. I only give it three stars because it did get a bit redundant towards the end, thus boring me a bit, but it's an excellent read for anyone who has suffered through the trials of being trapped in mental health "treatment."

I also felt that somewhere along the course of the book, the author lost her passion for telling the story. The descriptions became vague, there wasn't as much life breathed into the storytelling.

HOWEVER, Daphne has all of my respect. She seems to have come out of this ordeal intact. She is accepting of who she is and doesn't seem to hold hatred or ill will for those who have harmed her. I never felt heat from her words-- she simply told it how it was. I salute her.

Daphne Scholinski wore the label of "inappropriate female" for much of her life. As a tomboy youth, she was often mistaken for male. On one grocery trip, a clerk caught the "boy" for using the women's restroom. When the clerk confronted Daphne's father, instead of correcting the clerk, her weary father slapped her hand: "Bad boy. I told you to stop doing that."

In 1981, at odds with her raging father and abandoned by her free-thinking mother, 15-year-old Daphne was committed to a psychiatric hospital, at which a treatment plan was designed to help her identify as a "sexual female." Over one million dollars (you read that right) of insurance money was spent on three years of make-up lessons, encouragement of flirtation with males, and points for hugging male staff members. Daphne was indirectly blamed for all her family's troubles and told that her depression and confusion were symptoms of her improper gender identification. Desperate for a mothering relationship, she latched onto nurses, begging to be adopted by the most compassionate one, and attempting suicide when her efforts were rebuffed.

In a series of institutions, Daphne busied herself working the system to earn more privileges. To entertain themselves, she and other patients competed to shock the staff and get unusual diagnoses added to their charts. Their every movement was already analyzed and reduced into psychobabble, so why not? Daphne often embellished alcohol and drug abuse to make her case more interesting, but she realized she was out her league when she was transferred to rehab. All the while, a host of therapists and staff failed to identify sexual assault in Daphne's life, both before and *after* entering treatment. At age 18, when Daphne's father's insurance money ran out, she was discharged as no more "appropriate" a female than when she entered, but without a traditional high school experience or preparation for the world, and a few more years of victimhood under her belt.

Daphne Scholinski survived institutionalization with her intelligence, sense of humor, and sassy rebellious spirit. Every time she was transferred, she felt hope few her new situation. She writes that she knows she was lucky to be middle-class and be offered treatment, instead of being kicked onto the streets. As an adult, Daphne channeled her traumatic past into an artistic career, and now lives as Dylan Scholinski in the San Francisco area (Dylan's identification as male occurred after the 1997 publication of this memoir). I only discovered Scholinski's gender identity when I started composing my review, and in many ways, Daphne's "actual" gender identity is irrelevant to this story of the failure of the mental health system to help a depressed youth and her family.

Scholinski attempts to attack the mental health field in her memoir "The Last Time I Wore a Dress." She asserts that she was held through her teenage years because she was not feminine enough in the eyes of idiot doctors. However, I found little evidence of her tomboy nature contributing to her hospitalization. Scholinski never considers the consequences of her actions, she is dishonest, histrionic, and self-absorbed. It is a lack of maturity, not femininity that causes Scholinski's downfall. Amazingly, Scholinski never sees her actions as having anything to do with the state of her existence. This short, simple, and repetitive novel is a memoir of denial.

it disturbs me when people read memoirs, especially those geared at or focused in psychology, and take it upon themselves to diagnose the writer. that is not dylan's(daphne's) intent (dylan is fTm and is currently living in washington dc). this is a memoir, most importantly...a first-hand creatively written perspective and critique.

having met and visited with dylan at his studio in washington dc, i know that the reality of a tormented past is ever-present. his art reflects this. not only does dylan wrestle with demons of his past, he still must fight against the close-minded bigotry that some people have portrayed in these reviews. my understanding of psychology has always been that of a people-science...a science committed to helping people live good lives. it is not a science of manipulation and judgments, such as the reality that dylan had to face.

my only hope is that you read this book and realize that it is neither fact nor fiction, but one person's perspective on his reality. we cannot fault him for that...only applaud him for sharing his voice.

My four year old son is in love with this chapter series! A friend suggested it to us since he seemed ready for a more advanced reading material at bedtime. My husband reads him a chapter every night...sometimes more because they don't want to stop. It's become a great tradition for them, and something they both look forward to. We love that there are so many in the collection! Start with number 1 and just continue. :)

In the beginning it was midnight. Annie was awake. She woke up Jack.In the middle they decided to go to the moon. Morgan wants them to go to the moon. At the end Annie and Jack went back home. They liked the adventure. I know they liked the adventure because they said,"The universe is filled with wonders.
by Maria

In this book Midnight on the Moon the main charaicters are Annie and Jake they found a magic tree house that will take them places all they have to do is point to the place they want to go and say "i wish to go there" and the tree house spins and takes off! they have to find four things that starts with the letter "m" and they have already found three things and now they are on the moon trying to find the last thing and when they find the last thing then it will set morgan the librarian free from her spell that she is under!the three things that they have already discovered is a moonstone from the time in ninjas a mango from the amazon rain forest and a mammoth bone from the ice age!

Did Mary Pope Osborne do any research before writing this book?

First of all, when Jack and Annie are inside the moon base, there is normal gravity. Then, when they let the air pressure out so they can go on a moon walk, the gravity gets weaker! GRAVITY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AIR PRESSURE!

Secondly, while Jack and Annie are walking around on the moon's surface, an asteroid falls down from the sky and lands in front of them, blocking their way out of a valley.

Um.

An asteroid that size would have made a huge crater. We are talking megaton explosion. Jack and Annie should have been space dust.

I know, I know, what about my willing suspension of disbelief? These are books about a magic tree house where mice understand human speech and time travel is possible. But why couldn't they visit a more realistic version of the moon? Osborne could have looked up a few simple scientific facts, couldn't she?

I hate to think of little kids growing up thinking that gravity is caused by air pressure.

Midnight on the Moon by Mary Pope Osbourne

This book was about a smart nine year old boy named Jack and his seven year old sister named Annie. I liked this book because it was very adventurious and fun to read. When I read this book I felt like I took an exciting trip into outerspace. Jack and Annie's goal on the moon was to find the last "M" thing from the four great series of books. To find out what happens to Jack and Annie on the moon, read this fantastic book. I give this book a 4 star rating because of its wonders and suspense. This is a book I would read again.

The author primarily convinces us that homework is a tool supported by global corporations to serve as a predecessor to the arduous fifty to sixty hour work weeks expected in many professional careers. Homework is often viewed by school-aged children as a burden due to its usual stipulations of longer hours away from their friends and familial responsibilities. It can promote difficult situations within one's home, and ultimately sever family ties. For example: a child is forced by his or her parents to work on additional assignments after school, that child sometimes becomes rebellious or obnoxious in the attempt to resist the work because it is not generally seen by youngsters as a means to an end. Parents and schools are allegedly a part of an `unspoken conspiracy" to simply inflict unnecessary challenges and inconvenience on its children; rather than enrich them in academic pursuits.
John Buell's assertions substantiate the argument that homework allows organized mega-businesses such as Microsoft, IBM and Coke to acclimate future workers and even future consumers whom fit into the adult world whose mantra is "Hard Work Pays off." Does it really? Will all those extra hours of worksheets and repetitive readings adding to my wealth of knowledge or a time/space filler to minimize the number of hours spent with one's family during the week. Each product for sale is potential bait for the naïve student to develop loyalty to brand names in addition to learning the technology and programming necessary to operate the item.
Although inundation of advertisements and great deals influence the desire for high-performing gadgets and gizmos, increased dependence on technology promotes people to second guess their innate gifts and abilities and start to depend heavily on calculators and other instruments to perform simple mathematic equations. Buell also suggests that documented studies have proven that after a specific percentage of review, a child's ability to retain information is not that impressive. The distinct declaration deviates from the commonly used analogy of "children" and "sponges." This analogy demonstrates that the minds of children have an unlimited capacity for knowledge, just as a sponge retains a substantial amount of water.
This book raises good concerns about the effects of too much homework and the future roles of the students as contributors to the global economy and society. However, more thorough evidence is essential in proving that the liabilities of assigning homework outweigh the benefits.

Greg Davis
Professor Gibbons
Sociology
Closing the Book on Homework



Closing the book on Homework, by John Buell, is a very informative and articulate read. It also has a very catchy title. John Buell not only fights for the suffering children and young adults but also for society as a whole. He does this by arguing that homework hurts our children and society. He does this through a very strong and well backed argument.

I feel that one of his strong points of argument was his discussion on suffering. He defined that suffering is children going to school malnourished or not properly fed. Yes, he pointed out that suffering is a physical problem, but he also pointed out that suffering can be a mental problem also. In my experience in life, I feel that mental suffering can be the worst. And I think that it is common sense that children that perform long hours of homework at home can experience a great deal of mental suffering. Not only are they on there own at home, they are not in a setting that is supportive and as encouraging as a school. And if these children are getting substantial amounts of support from there parents then the whole point of children doing homework is not working, because the children are not doing the work themselves. Buell thinks that the work should be done in the class room where children have the proper support and advice from teachers.

One of Buell's main arguments is that children just like adults need time to themselves. He pointed out that some children in elementary school spend 30 hours a week in school, and spend around 5 hours just traveling there. He then points out that these same children have to go home every day in an environment not as encouraging as school and do more hours of homework. Children need a substantial amount of time to themselves to grow and find themselves. In terms of intellect and educational attainment, kids that work during the school week, have lower levels of educational attainment. Kids working at jobs can be compared to kids "working" on school work. Is there that much of a difference? So if kids who hold jobs suffer than one can come to the conclusion that children spending hours on homework might also suffer.

Buell argues that homework places a constraint on families and on communities. I totally agree with this. How can families be expected to grow and to be close if children have to come home and get there work finished. It is not healthy for children to sit inside all day in school and then come home to hours of more sitting at there desk or study area. And Buell makes a good point about it being more difficult for children of poor economic backgrounds to perform there homework. It is a system set up in favor of middle class children. They can benefit more from taking work home to a more equipped setting.

John Buell is a very intelligent man that is currently engaging in a so called war, over the issue of homework. In his book he outlines many reasons why homework is not helping our society. He many times points out that there are no studies that correlate academic success to homework. I feel that homework is more harmful to the person and the family that to the society. Buell argues this by talking about the many different constraints that homework places on the family. This is a very informative book that should be read and studied by everyone interested on the debate of homework in today's society.

Everyone might have thought at least once that it would be nice to be free from the burden of everyday homework. However, we have convinced ourselves to do homework because we think of it is an unchangeable fact, without any room for discussion about alternatives. Is homework really needed for students to improve their academic performance? John Buell, in his Closing the Book on Homework, claims that the ways in which homework is assigned in today's society is not effective, useless, and there is a need for homework reform. He emphasizes the need for reducing the burdens of homework in America's public school by discussing roles and consequences of homework and by suggesting limitations and alternatives for homework for efficient education. He insists on his points by explaining the impacts of homework on students and the relation of homework beyond the educational (school) setting: America's culture and social conditions. His argument on homework is multidimensional, convincing, and compelling.
Buell challenges America's high value of homework. Admitting that students who get higher scores and grades engage in doing more homework, he claims homework is not the primary factor of improving students' academic performances. He says that homework does not work efficiently without adequate educational environment, such as parenting and well support of teachers to individuals. This is a good point because today's homework is assigned mostly as "one-size-fits all" assignments which puts responsibilities on only children. Furthermore he claims that homework also has negative impacts for children such as causing low motivation and attitudes, endangers health, and is a violation of parents and children by taking away time to spend together. The way he criticizes negative aspects of homework over its positive impacts effectively supports his position, why homework should be eliminated or limited. Thus, his opponents' perspective of homework reform seems too simplistic about assigning more homework without any regards of alternative consequences of it.
Buell depicts the roles of homework in a larger picture that suggests other perspectives of homework. He explains the historical background of homework in America's public education and says that the roles of homework have changed depending on social conditions. This suggests a role of school is to produce potential workers for the country's future. It is interesting to know that there was a homework reform and even agendas to limit homework in the history. This historical background of homework is not known well in today's society, which values heavy homework. His mention of this history is good because it not only shows his call for homework-free classroom and limitation of homework are not extremely pointless or overly optimistic idea, but also induces readers in the discussion of homework reform.
Buell greatly connects a high value of homework in American society with the cultural, traditional and moral value of hard work and the potentials of youth. In addition to his explanation of the historical shift of value of homework, this point explains well why there is a tendency that emphasizes more and more homework on children. He also makes a strong point that there is a strong tendency of parents of low-income families' longing for more homework for their children, because their academic success will lead them to upward social mobility. From his points, readers may gain a perspective that children have huge burdens of expectations from their family and society on their shoulders and those expectations perpetuate the high value of homework and more work on children. This implies an irony of homework when we consider his early critique that claims homework does not directly lead students to successful academic performance.
This book is good especially for teachers, school boarders, educational policy makers, and parents, whether they are against homework reform or not. It provides readers with rich perspectives of the value of homework, and allows them to rethink about its purpose. Buell's claim of home-free-classroom and reducing homework sounds idealistic and optimistic at first glance without knowing his evidence supports, but it is worth rethinking the value of homework in regards to his points because he does not merely suggest reducing all homework with a simple approach. If we go beyond the "norm" of hard work and try to reform today's procedures of assigning homework, we would get best outcome of education from fewer but well efficient and qualified procedures, as he suggests. This book suggests changes and provides room for discussion.

John Buell's book Closing the Book on Homework is a subtly philosophical look at the purpose of homework in education and the utility of the concept of homework in the context of a global economy that emphasizes production and consumption. His main points are to argue against the effectiveness of homework and to highlight the consequences increased time spent on homework has on family life and the quality of public education. Based on a clear lack of homework research to support its efficacy in enhancing education and to make any substantive correlation between many hours spent doing homework and increased performance in the classroom, Buell dispels the arguments favoring homework as a necessary means to broaden a child's education and to build her character.
One of the most surprising yet undeniable connections Buell makes is the corresponding histories of children's rights in public education and the laborer's rights in the workplace. The progressive labor politics of the 1930's were reflected in increased children's rights and reduced homework. By the 1940's-50's in the post-WWII era, the country had a renewed valorization of work. Buell makes a logical case that the US competition with the Soviet Union and the burgeoning economy provoked the implementation of a more strenuous education centered on the "sanctity of homework". During these decades, homework was increasingly viewed as a way to enhance academic productivity, in the same way that longer working hours enhanced production output. Like the progressive philosophies of the 1930's, the politics of the 60's and 70's were concerned with the length and pace of the workday, and likewise with the mental health and "happiness" of children in school. The 1980's were once again a period of economic insecurity and competition with Asian powers, and as a result there was a heightened skepticism about leisure time as and a fear that "mediocre educational performance" would result in the country losing its competitive edge in the global economy. The consumerism of the 90's likewise contributed to the deterioration of the value of "learning for learning's sake," as the rewards for education became material through corporate sponsored incentive programs.
I have recently suspected our society of moving towards a dangerous and consuming trend of "getting and spending," but prior to reading this book, had never made the connection between consumerism, democratic ideals of individualism and hard work, and the increasing demands on school children. Buell delineates this process articulately with sound sociological reasoning. The myth of American society is one of social mobility. Poor and working-class families stress homework to their children in an effort to demonstrate their commitment to these "American" values and hope for a better life. Having taught an after-school program in a working-class urban community, I can confirm the author's conclusions. My class of second-graders often receives more than five worksheets of homework per night, an assignment which commonly takes the students more than one hour, and which their parents always insist firmly that they complete. Not only is the length of the homework long, but the assignment itself is wholly uninteresting, consisting of page after page of addition problems and tedious "activity" sheets demanding that they answer questions about a story they read in class earlier that day. In light of this experience, I can't help but agree with Buell's thesis that "the very stress on homework and long school day is another, and increasingly problematic, form of this preparation process to accustom the student to long working hours." I would simply add to this that stress on boring and unconstructive homework as students know it today, prepares them to accept boring and unfulfilling work later in life.
According to the author, the school's main function is to teach literacy and numeracy. In order to implement homework reform, he asserts that action must be taken on a grass roots level. Parents, students, teachers, and other concerned individuals need to demand restrictions on homework on the local level. Closing the Book on Homework is a revealing book well-deserving of a read from any citizen who suspects that the country is in the grips of corporate leaders dictating the value of consumerism and acquiring material wealth and likewise by anyone who observes a growing lack of family and free time due to increasing demands on the parents in the workplace and children in and outside of the classroom.

Author John Buell challenges in Closing the Book on Homework: Enhancing Public Education and Freeing Family Time the sacredly held notion that homework absolutely benefits students. Buell, conversely, believes that "too much of a good thing" is detrimental. Childhood development is defined by education, but not by academic instruction exclusively. Children also need to learn in the context of family, friends, extra-curricular activities, and part-time employment. Balance is imperative.

Buell emphasizes that teachers who blindly assign homework without considering peripheral variables risk impeding childhood development not only in the classroom, but also in life generally. Every student encounters different environments - many of which are negative - upon dismissal at the end of the school day. Since teachers cannot distribute homework on an individual basis, the most dismal circumstances must carry the greatest weight when teachers design nightly assignments. The child who is forced to complete hours of work on the floor of a shared bedroom using light from only a television set will rapidly lose ground to the student who enjoys the comfort of an expansive desk in a bright, quiet family office. In this case, homework creates disparities among students by negating progress made in the classroom. Sadly, those affected - the children - mainly are unable to prevent or improve the situation.

Buell logically points to the classroom's successor, the workplace, as a potentially ideal model for maximizing childhood development without relying on homework. Many professionals work from 9 am to 5 pm for a total of 40 hours per week. Once the office lights are turned off for the day, these individuals return home free to engage in leisure activities such as cooking, exercising, reading, and spending time with family. The defined responsibilities facilitate productivity at the former and refresh the spirit at the latter. Adults agree to work diligently on the job, but they in turn expect to receive personal time as a reward. Students are not granted such a luxury. On the busiest day, a given student will spend eight hours learning at school and several hours studying at home, only to repeat the process after limited sleep. How can student energy levels not be expected to decline over the course of a week, month, and semester?

Imagine the possibilities if the United States workweek mirrored that in Europe, where extended vacation time is the norm. Buell theorizes that less obsession with occupational demands would trickle down into less educational burdens. Students and parents, regardless of age, would be able to "play" with unprecedented frequency. Skeptics contend that such a shift will "dumb down" the country. On the contrary, Buell believes that increased opportunities to explore and share unique interests will spur mental, physical, and emotional growth. Eyes may be buried in fewer books, but the human intellect will be stimulated like never before.

Buell's argument is more than distinct - the argument is thoughtful and compelling. Unfortunately, his pleas to reduce the average homework load likely will go unheeded. Out of one side of the mouth, adults will complain that their lives lack relaxing moments. Simultaneously, they will invest overtime hours at the office in the unending quest for promotions and raises. Buell laughs at the idea that more time spent working always equates to more productivity, success, and fulfillment. Until societal leaders pause for a moment to contemplate the logic behind Buell's alternative, students and parents will continue to toil furiously despite the diminishing returns.

Tom Peters' book is entirely spirited and full of spontaneous ideas for sales. His approach is out of the box, he is not a conformist, leaving me with many ideas to start now!

The book is written in many short example. Easy to digest each part. Let the concept become a part of you.

Save your time and the one cent and read Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
and prepare for the 21st Century global economy with solid sanity.

I can't put it down! I love his honesty, his say it like you see it and his human approach. Not sure what else to say. It's on my top 10 list.

This book is okay to read, but while I started reading this book seriously to read it all at once, I just oculdn't do it at once. It took me lot longer to finish this book than most others -- compared to the size of the book, not because the content is bad, but the way it has been written.
Don't get me wrong this book is not a waste of time or money, and in fact, points delivered out of this book are well stuck to my brain that I use it regularly, but when you are reading a "Tips" book, it is hard to remember continuously everything thing and use it, so you have to stop and read some other time -- more like reading Gita/Bible/Qaran -- Absolutely fantastic words of wisdom, but can't swallow it all at once and by the time your each the end, it is lot longer..

I was thinking between a 4 star and 5 star for this book, but it ended up with 4 star, because, I didn't intend this book to be written this way -- better set of examples/anectodes would have made the book more interesting to read and remmeber the points easier, forever.

You may know Peters from his classic book IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE...business visionary and seminar leader. This book moves him and you into the cyberstage era. As it says on the back cover -- getting to excellence is not enuf --you have to leap and leap again and then catapault their imagaination-- blow their mindsets (hmm that's a 90's word) and knock off their Nikes...It's the wowers who will win in this brazen world. Women will love his milk, cookies and managing people chapter-- after all isn't that a stereotype-- the woman boss who brings in the goodies for the staff meeting....He covers hundreds of ideas here and disperses praise generously from Mary Kay for her MLM incentive program to the guy who keeps a clean bathroom at his gas station...Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way-- says Ted Turner and quoted by Peters...What Peters got right and remember this book was written back in 1994 is the irreverance to the corporate store....and the flattening of the pyramid...and the importance of small biz-- he talks to 11 entrepreneurs. Buy it used ...it's great to have on your shelf when you can't figure out what to do next as the boss of them or the boss of YOU!...Enjoy....fun airport reading....especially after a difficult meeting or maybe even before one.....

A Night in Terror Tower was an ok story. Some of it was confusing, it wasn't explained. The story was coinsidental, everything was planned out. Some parts of the book popped out at me and some parts were very boring. You should read this book and see what I'm talking about.

A Night in Terror Tower was an ok story. some of it was confusing, it wasn't explained. the story was coinsidental, it was all setup. Some parts of the book poped out at me and some parts were boring. You should read the book and see what I'm talking about.

A Night in Terror Tower is an amazing little book. With only 129 pages it is more than able to draw in a reader and fuel the imagination long after completion. The story is about two young children in London. They take a tour to the Terror Tower in London. The tour turns sour when they lose their guide and are hunted by the mysterious man in the black cape. The children are suffering from memory loss and nothing seems to be going their way! When the man in the black cape catches them the story takes a major twist, the kids are now in the past! This story is excellent for younger readers and will keep them turning pages for hours. I would recommend this book for anyone ages 8-12, but even adults could enjoy this as a quick night read! The graphic settings and bone chilling details to R. L. Stines books really keep you involved. The story is filled with humor, horror, drama, and action that won't let you sit anywhere but the edge of your seat.

A Night in Terror Tower is not the best Goosebumps book, But it is still good.
It is about a brother and sister(Eddie and Sue)that are in London because their parents have some meetings ( It never says what the meetings are for, But not even Eddie and Sue know, and you'll figure out why.) They spend their day with a tour group. They come to visit terror tower. While touring, they get separated from their group and are persued by a man in a cape that wants them for reasons unknown. Read the book to find out what happens when Eddie and Sue are finnaly captured.

I just read a book called A NIGHT IN TERROR TOWER by R.L.STINE. The main characters are EDDIE and SUE.THEY are hard headed brother and sister. They visit England. Then they visit the TERROR TOWER and they get trap in the TERROR TOWER. I like the book because it was scary.And the book had magic word an magic power.

I really did not enjoy this book very much. While I love Diana Wynne Jones' work, the book is not her best at all. Almost none of the characters were likable and the ending was strange. However, there is one reason to read this book. This book is something of an autobiography. I read an auto biography of DWJ on her website, and the descriptions of Cart, Imogen and Fernella (or whatever her name is) in this book matched those of young DWJ and her sisters in the autobiography.

The four sisters, Imogen, Sally, Cart and Fenella, are all unpleasant and unlikeable. They are immature and uncared for in much of the novel, and perhaps that is the reason for their often bizarre behavior. Their parents, in their callous behaviour to their own offspring, are also very unlikeable.

Unfortunately, it takes at least half of the novel to make sense of what is happening in the plot. By that time, I was out of patience with it, although I did finish the book.

Diana Wynne Jones has written many better books. Try Archer's Goon, The Dark Lord of Derkholm, The Year of the Griffin, Howl's Moving Castle, Power of Three, the Merlin Conspiracy or Deep Secret. Give this one a miss.

I have so far enjoyed all of Diana Wynne Jones' books, and this one was no exception. It's a good story as well as an adventure. Besides just that, having a favorite author consistently providing good stories of varying subjects is refreshing.

Charlotte (Cart), Selina (Sally), Imogen and Fenella Melford had a tugging contest over a rag doll. The doll lost and was ripped into quarters. Cart felt guilty and sewed the doll back together. Then to make it up to Monigan she invented the Worship of Monigan and awakened an ancient goddess whose out for blood.

Sally's spirit travels back into the past after her boyfriend Julian Addiman, also a Monigan worshipper, throws her out of his speeding car. Sally, possibly due to the trauma of this incident, can't remember who she is. As things start to come back to her, she tries to influence her sisters to fight Monigan or the goddess will claim Sally's life on July 17th, as promised 7 years earlier.

This is a very dark story that deals with mature subjects like domestic violence, parental neglect, dark occult worship etc. I thought the plot was very original but a bit confusing when Sally didn't know who she was yet I kept reading because Jones peaked my curiosity. I wanted to know what was really going on. This book starts out rather slow but it just draws the reader into the story.

This book is a difficult read. It is not easy sailing, though the writing is superb. This book is unconventional to the extreme. There are two confusing points in the book, one of which is the ghost's identity (which sister is it?), and the other is that fact that the ghost is NOT a ghost of a dead person. But you can figure out the ghost's identity fairly quickly if you pick up several obvious clues that many seem to miss, and this book is one of my favorites.
I won't go into the plot--other's, such as the publishers, have done it already--save to say that it is not gory or freakshly disturbing. If you are zealosuly religions, then you may not like this book, as it does have a "dark, old, female something" (a goddess-like presence) and severe neglect from the parents regarding the four sister-protagonists. One of the sisters goes missing, and the parents doen't even notice after several days, even though the mother comes in to say good-night and the father throws a rage at them later, even going through all four names without noticing before leaving.
This book is more like a window into a at-once familiar and fantastical world than a science-fiction/fantasy novel, a world where things that most people go through in childhood (such as a play-sceance using scrabble-letters or a belief that there is a ghost in the house) do not collapse into disbelief with time but are confirmed in a subtle, definite way. THAT is the whole of the 'horror and occult' in this book.
The characters are exactly drawn. Perhaps others do not know people as unusual or interesting as the four Melford sisters, but they are the sort of people who are at the edge of the population, who turn into famous artists, writers, musicians--the sort of people who go into history books (the sort of people who are very unusual). They are disinctly portrayed, and you can feel that you would recognize them on the street after reading the book. The personalities are very vibrant, and the entire book is a pleasurable read. You may want to reread this book later, because it is one of those books that can be reread many times; not open and direct, but secretive, mysterious, and very well-woven. Five stars on this one. Diana Wynne Jones has done an excellent job and has not been afraid to step out of the borders of conventional fiction writing to turn out a novel of striking originality.

My mom and I read these books together and both of us loved For All Time.It is wonderful and exciting and the multiple story lines were neat.I liked Camilla and Renifer,who were strong women.I screamed when Strat was wrongfuly accused of theft,cheered when Renifer's loathsome suitor,Pankh the tomb robber,died,nearly threw the book across the room when Time tore Strat and Annie apart AGAIN(arrrggghh!!!)and gave a whoop of joy when I realized that Strat was reincarnated in Lockwood Stratton.Time has,at last, made it posible for the star-crossed(and time-crossed!)lovers to be together.My only complaint is that the book should have been longer!

I loved the book and thought the whole series was very well written but in the end I still had unanswered questions. So for me I'm not going to buy it until or if the author makes a fifth.

This book was just O.K.I was so excited to read the last book, and was very dissapointed.There was too much of camilla and renifer, and not enough of the main characters.The ending was very bad! I was sooooooo confused! Was Strat born again? Will anny forget about the old strat and take the second strat? What was the deal about the sand in the watch? How did the second strat have a dream that he was floating on the nile? My other friend couldn't figure this out either. The book would of been good if it diddn't have that ending.

After a several-year wait, I found For All Time and was happy that another Time book had been written.However, the story disappointed hugely. My biggest beef with the story was Annie going back to ancient Egypt. The point? I didn't see one. And really, I didn't need another oppressed girl 'finding herself' as Renifer did. In fact, the entire Renifer story was unnecessary and frankly, a bit boring.

I truly, truly hated the end, as it went completely out of sync with Annie's character in the other three novels. She has this life-altering experience and shrugs her shoulders over it? There's no way anyone could go through what she went through and be that blase. I got the feeling Ms. Cooney painted her characters into a corner and didn't feel like fleshing out a plausible ending.

So...when I first read this book, I had a fit at the ending and now 5 years later I just read it again and I get it!!!! I totally understand the ending.

1. Lockwood Stratton
My biggest issue with him was that he was a descendent of Devonny yet his last name was Stratton even though she had married Winden. HOWEVER...as I reread the book and I came to the part on page 55-56 where Lockwood is explaining his name.
"Devonny Stratton married an Englishman. They had two children. The older son became an earl or something, but the younger son came back to America and called himself Lockwood Stratton. His son, my father was plain old Bill Stratton and now I'm Lockwood Stratton again."
MYSTERY # 1 SOLVED. lol.

2. I loved the side stories with Renifer and Pankh and Camilla and Archibald. And I think Caroline B. Cooney was very crafty in her reasons for having so much subplot. Annie was meant to go back and help Renifer to grow and save her. I think in a way Annie was also meant to go back a thousand years to save Strat from his Father. Meaning Strat came through time to save Annie from being Sacrificed, and in turn she had again saved him from the wrath of his dad.

3. The Mystery of Lockwood Stratton/Strat: ENDING
In the end when Camilla realizes that Strat is good and that Hiram Stratton Sr. wants him destroyed, she finds the strength to accuse him of murder, giving Strat time to run after the half image of Annie. The last we hear of Strat, he is running toward the Nile. Here is the quote.
"He could see the Nile in the distance, a dark and shining ribbon, like the ribbons of Annie's hair, and he ran on and on, sure he could reach them both."

That's it. That is the end of Strat's story. soooo....lol...we cut to Lockwood Stratton finding Annie once again in the museum. She wants to find out more about him so she asks him to walk her to the train station. When he tells her about his dream.
"I was trying to find you, I didn't want to lose my new Lockwood on the very day we met, and I was on the Nile, sailing upstream with a bunch of British soldiers. We didn't have enough to eat and te tribes were attacking from both banks and what I did have was a camera. On a tripod, isn't that a kick? I lost it in a swamp. There was a crocodile."

Now, this never occurred in the Strat chapters. So here is my conclusion. What Lockwood Stratton "dreamed" was Strat's last memory. He died that same day. In running after Annie he ran into death and then, reincarnation to be with her. Reincarnation and Time gave Strat a better life and Annie all at once. The sand was Time's way of telling Annie the truth and that is why the book is called For All Time.

If you don't agree with me, that's cool...I just was saying what I gathered.

Now, my BIGGEST problem with the book was that Caroline B. Cooney totally forgot her characters. If you remember in Both Sides of Time the year was 1895 and Strat was eighteen and ready to go to college. Then in Out of Time it was 1898 and Strat was 21. Now, in this book it is 1899 and twice in the book it says Strat is 19 when he should be 22. So...thats the only issue. Otherwise the book was perfect. In my opinion.

So I gave the book 5 stars, it was a great read along with the entire series. I wish for another book, though I doubt we'll get one.

SD

I read this book when I was 12 or 13 and it wasn't too bad. I remember it being witty and entertaining, don't expect anything too thought provoking though.

I wouldn't suggest this for anyone over 14 since it's a bit of an easy read and rather fluffy. (And not good fluffy like Old Magic, just boring fluffy.)

T.S. Eliot once famously said, "Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers." This saying is very ably demonstrated here.

I found this book painful to read, not only because it was dull and tedious, but also because it was implausible, illogical, grammatically flawed and just plain badly written. The writer didn't seem to know how to write properly, and I'm convinced that she didn't actually understand the meaning of many of the words she was using, judging by the way she used them. She just sort of threw them together, and made pretty sentences that weren't entirely right. Moreover, she didn't just fail in a grammatical sense, she also failed to create a compelling, interesting storyline, which in my view is a far, far bigger sin. I can overlook grammatical flaws in a plot, so long as there's some great ideas behind it (as in the case of 'Lady Knight' by Evangelynn Stratton, or 'The Rose and the Beast' by Francesca Lia Block, which are both amazing books.) But there was no forgiving this. I almost got the feeling that this writer was a history teacher trying to make a history lesson more 'interesting' by turning it into a novel...and failing. There was loads of historical fact here--most of it dry, a little of it highly interesting. But it stood out from the plot rather than blending in. A good writer would have blended history and fiction until they became indistinguishable, like melting together chocolate and cream to make a delectable, tasty truffle. But this was more like blending tripe and lentils...the blend was obviously a mismatch, and an unpalatable one at that.

I lost count of how many times I put this book down, thinking, 'I can't go on, this is more painful than getting a leg wax!' And yet, I did persevere, because I paid retail plus shipping costs for this book (which, when you factor in the exchange rate of my humble Aussie dollars to your American ones, is quite a bit of dosh!) and thus thought, gosh-darn it, I'm going to get my money's worth out of it! So I finished the damned thing. But frankly, in retrospect, I would rather have had the leg wax.

If you're a hopeless romantic like I am, my guess is that you are going to be disappointed with this book too. In spite of the book's title literally promising 'Timeless Love', the reader doesn't even glimpse the hero for the first time until TWO THIRDS of the way through the book. And even then, the romance between him and the heroine is as underdone as a rare steak. This writer seemed VERY afraid of writing anything remotely mushy. One wonders if she shouldn't be writing non-fiction history books, as she seems to know her stuff much better when it comes to that.

The characters are two dimensional and unlikeable (actually, the bad guy was almost more interesting than the good guys), the heroine 'Sam' is often as dumb as a box of hammers but with less charisma, the dialogue is almost worse than a kiss from a scorpion with haliotosis, and the plotline is so full of holes I could use it as a collander. The worst thing, though, the thing that I found most implausible about the plot (other than the way the future changed when Sam went back and forward through time which was so fraught with paradox I began to yell "That couldn't happen!!") was the fact that Sam could cure King Edward VI's terminal illness simply by making a few changes to his diet, and taking a dog and a bit of fur out of his room. Now, I should have found this plot twist compelling, since I myself suffer from food and environmental allergies, and know what a huge impact they can have on your life. But no way are allergies that easy to diagnose and fix, and no way can they be cured in the space of A FEW HOURS, especially without cleaning any extra animal hairs and dander out of the bed linen or environment! Call me pedantic, but that was just too unrealistic for me.

The front cover is the nicest thing about this book. But of course, even this is flawed. The girl on the front cover has beautiful, straight blonde hair, whereas the heroine in the book has frizzy, over-permed, damaged hair with ugly streaks through it.

I gave this book two stars because it's not completely without merit. The author does do things right from time to time, and you'll even find the occasional touch of brilliance here and there. But otherwise, I don't think this was worth the sacrifice of chopping down the trees needed to make the paper it was printed on. The nine to twelve year olds will probably find this okay, so long as they're history buffs. But for anyone older, they may find they've already outgrown it.

If you're interested in love stories set in this exact period of time that involve Lady Jane and King Edward VI then get hold of the dvd 'Lady Jane' starring Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes. It's touching, it's poignant, it's sweet and it's a damned sight better written than this book.

I bought this book after reading a review somewhere. When i picked it up i was like ok it is good but it did get better. It is definetly for kids 15 or younger just becuase of the way it is written. However i am 21 and i liked it.
After wrecking her dad's brand new BMW, she wishs (while holding her necklace) that she was anywhere else only to transported back in time. She soon finds herself in love and wanting some soap. She eventually gets back only to find that everthing has changed because she went back in time, so she goes back again to fix what she did. She even just might get the guy she loves from when she went back in time :)......

This is one of ther best books i have read like ever! and belive me i have read a lot. I found it very fun to read and it kepped me reading it till the end! i never put it down untill i finished it! it was great and i will mostl likely read it many more times. It has made my intrested in history and other things. I really love it because of Barnaby! it is just so cool because i love Ierland and fell in love with hids carecter!

I usually hate mushy romantic books but timeless love is simpley amazing! The main character is independant and easy to relate to! I recomend this book 100%